August Update: Story Acceptance and Potential Collection

Good news! I did reach my Camp NaNo goal! Which led me to realize that even though it was fun to write, it's not really a very solid novel idea. I may go back to it when I'm bored just for fun, but I can't imagine when I'll have that kind of free time. It has a really interesting relationship dynamic--the protagonist and her rommate, and the protagonist and her not-so-love interest--so I may reuse elements of that at some point. But as a whole, it was mostly a rehashing of my time working at Wal-Mart turned into paranormal romance. I don't feel like anyone but me would enjoy it, so I'm shelving it for now to purse other projects that I feel have more potential.

So last month I started submitting short stories again, using Duotrope to find markets and track. I hadn't actively tried to get any short stories published for over a year, but in a flurry of cover letters and email queries, I sent out fourteen of my strongest short stories.

Then I sat back and waited. And got some rejections. And sent those stories back out. And finally, Jack said hey, there is this collection I think would be a good fit for one of your stories. So I submitted. And then, after about a month, my story got accepted.

A story I wrote for the Cafe, called "The Heart of Stone Monsters," will be in Wolfsinger's Misunderstood anthology that comes out on October 31 of this year. They are going to pay me five whole dollars. Woohoo!

I am excited about this. They've been extremely pleasant to work with so far. And as much as I love Halloween already, I have an even greater reason to be excited about it this year!

But. That is the only acceptance I've had so far. I still have about ten submissions out at the moment, but I'm getting rather discouraged. I've been through almost all of my stories once already. It's been a nice distraction, but I need to focus on more fruitful things. Writing short stories is a lot of fun, and I've gotten many a story idea for novels later down the line writing for the Cafe every month, so I don't plan on stopping writing them. But trying to get them published in magazines isn't really the best use of my time these days. It would be nice if I could recoup my Duotrope subscription costs, but even if I don't, that's been worth it to get my writing friends submitting, as well.

I think between Jack and Rachel, I've been talked into putting together a short story collection. Having written a short story a month for the Cafe this year, and all of my previous work, I'll have a pretty substantial amount of stories to collect. So I'm thinking about that. Brainstorming titles, trying to figure out who would edit it, how much I'd be willing to pay for a cover, stuff like that. I've been toying with this idea for about a month now, and I still haven't come down firmly on one side or the other as far as putting it out there. I think I'd probably aim for early 2016. Before Conquest, for sure, so I would have something to sell at the Bottle Cap Publishing table (if we get one).

I also really need to focus my energies back on the novel. Monsters of Lawrence is really close to done--A few weeks of intensive edits should make it ready for submission--but it's been in limbo since it came back from beta readers. I'm not sure if it's fear of failure or fear of success that has me stalled out at the moment. I'm also going through a phase of not feeling like my work is all that good, so what is the point of working on anything. I'd like to try to get back into it before the next book edit from Rachel. I have about a month at this point. Plenty of time. I just need to get my butt in gear and do it whether I'm in the mood or not. I've been putting it off for too long.

If anything, all of this short story submission has been a good warm-up for when I start submitting my novel. Helps thicken my skin and realize that there is a market for everything.

So that's me this month. Next month I will be in crazy last-minute wedding planning mode, and then Jack and I head to California for our honeymoon. We're hoping to do a bit of writing for the first half (since we were supposed to be at the Haunted Mansion retreat that got cancelled), and then drink a lot the second half in Napa. I'm looking forward to the time away. I'm sure I'll post update before our wedding, which is in early October.

October is shaping up to be a pretty awesome month for me. I just need to survive the rest of August and the first few weeks of September to get there!

May Update: Beta Readers and ConQuest

ConQuest is in less than a week. The fated convention Jack and I look forward to every year with gusto. The convention that happens the weekend of Jack's birthday. The convention where our creative batteries get charged, make new friends in the business, and learn a ton of stuff about writing and publishing.

This year, we're actually speaking on panels. This is super exciting news! Jack is moderating four panels, participating on four, and doing a reading. He makes me feel like a slacker with my measly two panels, but I'm happy to be invited to speak at all, really. Our good friend R.L. Naquin will be on a few panels, as well. She and I are kind of dipping our toes in the water this year to see how things go. Maybe we'll be more involved next year. Jack basically did a cannonball into the deep end without even testing the waters. I'm excited for him, but I have a feeling I'm not going to see too much of him for three days!

I'll put together some sort of wrap-up after the weekend to let you know how it goes. There may even be pictures of us gals in our pajamas attending the brand new adults-only panels. Panels that start at 9pm and 10pm? That's past our bedtimes, so we're going appropriately dressed. Which may also include tiaras, depending on how much we've had to drink by that point. It should be fun. We've encouraged several of the LFK Writers to join us this year, so it'll be an awesome party.

If you are interested in the panel schedule, you can find it here.

Here's my speaking schedule:

Saturday, May 23
11:00 AM - Working Through the Bad Days
1:00 PM - NaNoWriMo: 30 days, 1 novel

I'll have swag for the NaNo panel, sent specially from NaNo HQ just for you. The rest of the weekend, I'll be following Jack and Rachel around to all of their panels and maybe stalking Brandon Sanderson a bit.

In other news, I have all but one of my critiques over Monsters of Lawrence back from my beta readers. I am equal parts excited about and dreading the amount of work this novel still needs. I'm overwhelmed, mostly. I'm not sure when I'll dive into edits for it. It might not be soon. It's going to take a lot of energy and creative inspiration.

Right now I need to work on something else for awhile. I don't know what yet. I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out.

In the meantime, I'm still over at the Confabulator Cafe every month writing short stories to their monthly prompt. So I'm not being completely idle!

April Update: Camp NaNoWriMo and stuff

Hi friends. Checking up on me, are you?

As you should.

I've committed to posting on my writing blog at least once a month, and the month of April got away from me. I spent a full week sick with two different viruses, but I'm finally feeling more like myself.

That's a thinly veiled excuse for the lack of writing I've gotten done. It's the April session of Camp NaNoWriMo right now, and I set my goal at an easy 20,000 words. I've written 3,000.

But I still have a week. I know I can write the words if I just sit and write. But I'm trying to make it a point to not do it that way anymore. I've done NaNo enough years to know I can write 60k+ words in a month. But I want to focus more on the quality of words, not the number. And so, if I don't get all 20k words written this month, it's ok. What's more important is getting my ideas for this story down.

I'm working on the third story in a series that I started writing as my very first unofficial NaNo back in 2004. The story wound down at about 15k words, but left a lot of other stories to tell. Over the years, I've rewritten that first version a few times, and I've settled into the idea that someday I'd like to have five "season" of five stories, kind of like a television show. I've sketched out the whole series, and while the early "seasons" aren't all that strong, I think it has potential to be awesome.

I've thought about maybe self-publishing these under a pseudonym someday. I like the characters and the silly adventures, but the writing isn't as strong as I'm capable of and they aren't all that factually solid. They're supposed to be fun, both to read and to write, but I don't want that to come back and reflect poorly on me, in case I ever get serious.

So, maybe in another few years, once I've gotten the first five episodes written, I will start releasing them into the world. Maybe I'll build up a whole life for my alter ego. I'm already playing with different names I could use.

That's what's going on in my life this month. Attempting to write a novella, struggling with my health, and still awaiting critiques from my beta readers on Monsters of Lawrence. My friends have affectionately given my novel the hashtag #LFKMonsters. It'd be cool if that caught on.

Things have been quiet on the editing front. I finished up work on my most recent special project from Luna Station Quarterly, my author friend asked for a month-long extension to beef up her next book, and a horror writer who is friends with the future husband approached me about proofreading an anthology he's putting together sometime in June. So I'm between projects. Which means I need to stop binge watching Netflix and get some writing done!

Up next, I've got more Towers of Kansas transcribing, another month of Confabulator Cafe flash fiction stories, and I'll probably have to start incorporating beta reader feedback on Monsters of Lawrence as my friends finish up. Lots of work to do.

And ConQuesT is next month. Still no schedule yet, but Jack and I were both approached to participate on panels, so I'll let you know where I'll be as soon as I hear.

The next couple of months should be exciting! Stay tuned for more updates.